An Imperfect Day
by Fading to Black
Summary: Also known as The Day The Golden Trio Runs Away, The Day Rufus Scrimegeour Dies, The Day Harry Spends As A Weasley. Or, most of all, Fleur Delacour-Weasley's Ruined Wedding Day.


**An Imperfect Day**

**Fading to Black**

_"Perfectionism is a dangerous state of mind in an imperfect world." ~ Robert Hillyer_

* * *

A hand touched my chest, where I was bleeding. My hand, I think. If it was cold I didn't feel it; I was numbed by then, thankfully. Physically, by the rain. Mentally...the day had been _perfect_ and-and then it wasn't. And then it had gone to hell, like the Ministry and the rest of the war. And with that thought poisoning me, I fell back, against the rough-sewn bark of the tree, and closed my eyes, listening to my heart pound in tune to the flashes on my eyelids and the throbbing in my head.

The night had been a good one to start with. I had been sitting around the dinner table in the kitchen with Mrs. Weasley, looking over the final details for the wedding. It was going to be my day, mine and Bill's. It was going to be perfect, a dream on silver-lined clouds. I wouldn't settle for less, and neither would Mrs. Weasley. Bill just chuckled patiently, and spent the time with his father and his brothers.

Bill had always been a good person. It hadn't been his fault, even if he had been the one to invite that particular guest.

To be fair, it wasn't the guest's fault either. Trifles such as death or imprisonment don't lend themselves to weddings generously. Neither do intercepted owls.

It hadn't happened right away. I'd greeted some of Bill's relatives and some of mine, checked my hair, checked with my sister (whom I had not seen for nearly a half year), and fiddled with some of the last preparations Mrs. Weasley and I had made.

Even Harry, conspicuous as he would be in a crowd of red-heads and part-Veela cousins, had been disguised and sighted chatting amicably with one or another guest. I felt mildly bad that he'd practically lost his birthday to the wedding, but he had assured me that he didn't hold it against me. I hope not. I still owe him for saving my sister at the Triwizard Tournament.

He doesn't seem to hold it against me, though. That boy is too sweet, too selfless for his own good. At least he'd gotten away.

They had been targeting him, after all. It always seemed to come back to Harry, and his poor fate to be said to be able to kill You-Know-Who, V-V-V-Vol-Voldemort. The child didn't mean anything, I know, and I can't blame him for anything at all. He's not the one who painted targets onto himself.

We'd been safe, happy, in a warm bubble all day. The bonding ceremony had gone off without a hitch. The first dance was flawless. Socializing was fun; people were all saying how beautiful I was, how wonderful Bill was, how perfect everything _was._ And, hearing all of that wonderful praise, I kept my head raised high and smiling even more brightly than before.

It had been a haze of euphoria that not even that dratted Aunt Muriel of Bill's could overshadow, insulting advice on how to wear the tiara and all.

Nothing could bring me down from that high. _Nothing._ And I'm sure that Bill had thought much the same of it at the time. If I could cast a Patronus Charm, I'd expect that this memory would be the one I would use. This glorious day. I decided I didn't notice the scruffle between that Quidditch Player, Krum, and the Weasleys' neighbor, Xenophilius Lovegood. Janine Weasley, leaving early.

Bill's brother, Percy, had been absent. I had known he had estranged himself, but one would think that he would turn up for his eldest brother's wedding. It would be so selfish, so self-centered, so hurtingly _arrogant_ not to do so. So Bill had sent him the invitation. It must have gone through Ministry channels aplenty. It could have happened at any one of their pit stops.

Percy never got his invitation. That's what I hope happened. Not that he handed it to his boss, in hopes of showing him how dedicated he was to his work by not going. From what I have heard, I would think that's just what happened. And the day of the wedding, August the First, was the day that the Ministry fell.

Right before it all went to chaos, a silvery messenger, a lynx, hopped in through a window. It had told us, with a voice I didn't recognize that Mrs. Weasley obviously did, about the Ministry and Minister Scrimegeour's death. Seconds later, my beautiful, perfect wedding exploded. The Death Eaters were here.

I heard the screams, but I reacted. One thing that Mrs. Weasley insisted on was a strap on the inside of my sleeve to hold my wand. I thought she was overdoing it, that she was just under too much stress and was starting to become a paranoiac.I was never more thankful for her suggestion than in that moment, when the Shield Charm I had just barely put up deflected away a Cutting Curse that would have beheaded me.

A crack sounded, clearly Apparition, though I couldn't tell whether it was coming or going. I had neither the breath nor the sight to care.

I don't remember much of the battle I do recall being overwhelmed. Curses flying, shouts and screams. Some of them were mine, I'm sure. My wand is in my hand, and I feel the exhaustion of my magic in my bones, weighing me down more than my soaked dress. There was a Blasting Curse that hit me; I think that's why I'm bleeding. And then the pain; I fled into the forest when I could no longer fight, running as quickly as my feet could carry me in this great lump of embroidery of a perfect wedding dress. Ripped, I'm sure, but the imperfection doesn't seem to matter anymore.

I will survive this, but mark my words. A traitor's luck will always rebound upon themselves. And when it does, I won't be stopping his suffering. I only hope that, for the sake of his eventual bride-to-be, that such luck does not find him on his wedding day. Even if there really isn't any such thing as a 'happily ever after'. Not one that we don't make for ourselves.

So, no wedding days. But any other is fair game.

* * *

_This is an entry to the Magical Objects Competition : Sneakoscope._


End file.
